Apparatus for coiling wool sliver in cans



511m 9 3952 R. c. WELKXE 2,59,?

APPARATUS FOR COILING WOOL SLIVER IN CANS Filed Dec. 6, 1947 :5 Shets-Sheet 1 lflllllllllliii IN VEN TOR.

J1me 1952 R. c. WILKIE APPARATUS FOR COIL-INC; WOOL SLIVER IN CANS 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 6, 1947 INVENTOR.

June 3, 1952 R. c. WILKIE APPARATUS FOR COILING WOOL SLIVER IN CANS 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Dec. 6, 1947 Patented June 3, 1952 h t flevili' ii' 'hl ih i; w i s-e isi ii i6 racifiemi lsi Lawrence, Mass; a corporation of Massa'ehiisetts Abjii'catibn master 6, 1941,.ser'ii utilise ans," the can is given a horizontal oriiit inet'io'n without rotation un erneath a rotating c'g'iler head which earrie's the sliver through a tube from the "calender rolls and deposits the sliver 'ihpoils' the cans; In the case; of cotton and Qthe'rf 'ejliiil'o'sie fihe'l'sf he siiifei', bi'jmfiacjte'd by the calender reil's, read ly passes into and through the tube of the ebiler headinto thejcan;

Wool, on the; 'otherfh'aiid; is res lent and stringy with the result that Ton leaving the calender rolls the sliver expands to such an extent 'that it is diffieult tor it to enter an'd pass through the tiibe o h o e ee 'Efi r s a bi lli eid ii certain types of woti toiling 'rnechaj to overcome this difliciiltvby introducing device's t nder the calender rolls to confine thesliver closely with it enters theme at; the cbiler head and by employing device's opennessat the coiler head. But these ilvioes' add complications to the machine arid haiie not been entirely stirrcessful. An objection tb former inetho'dsfis that the ati'ial coiling 'o'f the 'wool sliver does net take place immediately on the deliver? of the sliver int'o'th'e can; The woel sliver is whirled arbumi in the can and nfo ilc fiiial coiling takes place until the" material fills the can siimei'ently to exert an upward pressure against the-heifer head. Of the total amount of wool-placed in the can, the part actually (soiled eeinpris'es only about one-third.

I overcome these objections 'byfgri'ppinig the untwisted wool sliver as soon as its end is de livered through the tube on the 'coiierhead and by pulling the wool sliver under lightit'ensibn through the tube; as" hereinafter set forth;

A preferred form of my invention is shownin' the drawings in which:

Fig. 118' an end view showing the calender rolls, coiler head and driving means for the same;

Fig. 2 is a vertical cross-section of the sliver can;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of Fig. 2; v

Fig. 4 is across-section of the spring device shown in Fig.2; and v 5 is a diagrammatic-a1 plan view of the ceiling of the sliver. I I N m The wool is fed to the calender rolls I and-2 '1, from a source of-suppl'y. It is compressed and delivered by th'e'cai'enderirolls to the tube 3 on the rotating coiler head plate 4 through which tube it passes to a; hole'fi in the plate '4 of the toilet head. As soon as it passes through (01. limits) this hole it isgri'pp'e'd bm hip or thsmateq, Fig, 2, time top of the sliver can In against. '1' bbi't m o t e P and: then; hi0 preceeds; by. the s ot the coiled wotl' against the bottom 'or ha is as 1ea horizontal plane by mechanism which is kri'oiivii' in the menu ne 'dhdt be descriheii. I 7 a I v The s live'r can It is beset, i. e, "e'cseiitheiiny positioned, with respem to the c her" head, and as the pi'hital mean or the ca i 18 are a ower s p eedltha'h th" r' atio'ri or the tone head,- em:

the wool 's'liver is djp" ite'd inthe easing of super osed and n arly circula etils t m1 s the inside surrsce bf ci iinan and pas'sing peyb na the inert: the emits, 5.

ro this end the Time, 111 t e plates is-blessed 20 the cage or the", piste and; therbta'tiiin. 6i

the plate brings the hole cio'se' to the 15 H of theinside surface oi the ease from the' inne'r ase of the we i thejflijte to the axis of rotmanor the piate is' rlatedto h s: Zfin?@niiiiiihfide we pa se hey i the projected axis of the can.v I

ilspw i lii uppermostposition at the start offth operation offilling" theieai i it weeiishver, i the springs is, are ma gsumeient-tensim" top, s5 th plate 1 againstthe I I W l v l I plate} is iIIlt'S up ermo'st 6O positionagainst' 'theibettom pf the'plate As the plate 1 islowere d' by the swam-shims thereon of coiled wool, the springs pull on the cords to maintain an upward pressure on the plate 1 which increases as the plate descends, thereby compensating for the additional weight of the coiled wool on the plate and providing the desired upward pressure of the coiled wool against the bottom of the coiler plate 4 to grip. Y,

- permitted, the differential may be increased to the wool against the plate so that the wool sliver is pulled through the tube 3. When the plate! is near the bottom of the can the upward pull of the springs should be about 20 pounds.

The wool sliver is pulled through the tube 3 from the calender rolls under a light tension which is provided by giving the inner edge of the hole 6 in the plate 4 a greater linear speed, 2 to faster, than the speed at which the wool sliver is delivered by the calender rolls l, 2. The tension on the wool sliver, due to this speed differential, causes the uniform delivery of the wool sliver from the calender rolls through the tube into the can.' The mechanism by which I prefer to accomplish this speed differential is'as follows:

Attached to the coiler plate 4, Fig. 1 is a peripheral gear M which is rotated about its axis by a gear which'is attached to a shaft 2| to which is attached a bevel gear 22 driven by a bevel gear 23 on shaft 24 to which is attached the sprocket wheel 25. The latter is driven by a sprocket chain 26 which is driven by a sprocket 2'| fast-on the shaft of the calender roll 2. A sprocket wheel 28 fast on this shaft is driven by a sprocket chain 29 from a sprocket 30 fast on the shaft 3|. The calender roll! is geared to the calender roll 2 so that these rolls have the same peripheral speed.

When the linear speed of the inner edge of the hole 6 in the coiler head plate is from 2 to 15% greater than the speed of the wool sliver delivered by the calender rolls, determined by the peripheral speed of the calender rolls, the wool sliver from the beginning to the end of the operation is pulled through the tube 3 under light tension smoothly and continuously and is wound in compact helically laid coils on the plate 1 in the can so that the entire can is filled with compacted coils of wool tangential to the inside surface of the can and extending beyond the axis of the can as shown in Fig. 5.

The ratio of the linear speed of the inner edge of the hole in the coiler head plate to the speed of the periphery of the calender rolls may be achieved in any suitable manner. For example, I may vary the number of teeth in the gear 20 with relation to the number of teeth on the gear 4|, or I may vary the number of teeth on the sprocket wheel 21 on the shaft of the calender roll 2 with relation to the number of teeth on the sprocket 25.

As an example, assume that the calender rolls are 2 in. in diameter and are rotating at 240 R. P. M., that there are 17 teeth on the sprocket 21, 22 teeth on the sprocket 25, that there are 20 teeth on the gear 20 and 108 teeth on the gear 4| and that the two bevel gears 22 and 23 are of the. same size. Under these conditions the peripheries 'ofthe calender rolls run at a speed of approximately 1500 in. per minute and the inner edge of the hole in the coiler head rotates at a linear speed of approximately 1540 in. per minute or, about 2.6% faster than the speed at which the wool is delivered by the calender rolls.

I have found that the speed differential of from 2 to 15% between the peripheral speed of the calender rolls and the greater linear speed of plate is critical and that if the differential is reduced below the minimum the wool will not be pulled through the tube and be coiled properly in the can. Preferably the speed differential should not ordinarily exceed 7 5%, though, if a somewhat smaller strand is desired or may be 10% or even to 15%. If the differential is greater than 15% the tension on the wool sliver, which is untwisted, is apt to break it.

When the mode of operation above described is followed, the can is filled from bottom to top with a compact mass of helically arranged coils of wool and that, for example, a can 12 in. in

diameter and 36 in. high can be filled with 20 pounds of wool compared to a maximum of 8 or 10 pounds by previous methods.

Iclaim: J

1. In an apparatus for coiling wool sliver in a cylindrical can having an orbital motion, the combination of a coiler head having a tube to deliver said sliver in helically arranged coils in the can, calenderrolls to deliver the wool sliver to said tube, a rotatable plate on said head having a hole adjacent to its periphery and in line with the delivery end of said tube, a false bottom in said can, spring actuated means applied to said false bottom to press said bottom against the bottom of said rotatable plate when the can is empty and against the mass of coiled sliver in the can throughout the accumulation of the coiled sliver in the can, means to drive said calender rolls, means to rotate said plate and gearing connecting said last named two means so proportioned that the linear speed of the inner edge of said hole is from 2 to 15% faster than the peripheral speed of the calender rolls, whereby the helical coils of wool sliver are compacted evenly and firmly throughout the can.

2. In an apparatus for coiling wool sliver in a cylindrical can having an orbital motion, in which a coiler head has a rotatable plate with a hole adjacent to its periphery and a tube to deliver said sliver to said hole and in which the can has a false bottom which is pressed against the bottom of said rotatable plate when the can is empty and against the mass of coiled sliver as the can is filled, the combination of calender rolls to deliver wool sliver to said tube, means to drive said calender rolls, means to rotate said plate and gearing connecting said last named two means so proportioned that the linear speed of the inner edge of said hole is from 2 to 15% faster than the peripheral speed of the calender rolls, whereby the helical coils of wool sliver are compacted evenly and firmly at the beginning and throughout the entire operation of filling the can. a

ROBERT C. WILKIE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 532,405 Threlfall Jan. 8, 1895 2,018,261 Holdsworth Oct. 22, 1935 2,152,295 Weinberger Mar. 28, 1939 2,478,960 Wilkie July 16, 1949 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country V .Date

1,736 Great Britain of'1854 

